This invention relates to suspended shelves and containers, specifically those for use by a passenger on a conveyance.
In the highly competitive world of airlines and to a lesser extent, other forms of mass transportation, efforts to maximize passenger capacity has resulted in the reduction of seat size and surrounding space for individual passengers.
Additionally, to match or underbid the fare pricing of competitors, and increase profits, cost cutting measures have often been directed at the food and beverage service normally served on these conveyances. Domestic airlines, for example, which once offered passengers meals on mid-length flights now do not.
This long felt, but unsolved need; simultaneously for sustenance and space by airline passengers was documented in the lead story of USA TODAY (Feb. 19th., 1999): xe2x80x9cThe 500 million passengers expected to board domestic flights this year are less likely to get an airline meal than at any time in modern commercial aviation history.xe2x80x9d
And: xe2x80x9cCoupled with an expanding smorgasbord of affordable and portable airport food, meal shrinkage has triggered a boom in carry-on.xe2x80x9d
Nothing in the known prior art offers a solution similar to the invention about to be disclosed, namely the need for a means to provide for greater sustenance while preserving personal space on domestic conveyances.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,025 (Feibelman) teaches a foldable jewelry card: xe2x80x9c . . . provided with a hook portion integrally formed along the upper edge of the rear panel . . .  xe2x80x9d
U.S. Pat No. 5,108,000 (Stoll et al.) teaches a caddy for recyclable paper with a hanging means for attachment to a waste receptacle described: xe2x80x9c . . . loop segments define a support section projecting rearwardly from said rear wall and a depending engagement section to support and secure the caddy when the hanger member is hangingly mounted on the rim of a conventional wastebasket. . . .xe2x80x9d
It is therefore, an object of this invention to provide a convenient means to hold small objects such as beverages and sandwiches at a location convenient to the reach of a seated airline or conveyance passenger while preserving more of the uncluttered space in front of him.
Another object of this invention is to provide a convenient means to transport objects useful to a passenger to the conveyance from a different location.
An additional object of this invention is to provide an embodiment which has a first space saving position for transport, and a second position for deployment
Briefly, the invention is suspended from the seat back and the upper edge of the stored tray table directly in front of the seated passenger.
A means for securing the invention between the tray table and seat back consists of a thin essentially rigid suspension card attached at an upper portion of the invention facing the seat back. Beginning at the point of attachment to the remainder of the invention, the suspension card extends perpendicularly for a distance which corresponds to the thickness of the tray table, and then at a right angle down to a distal end.
The invention is positioned when the tray table is unlatched from the stored and secure position and opened slightly towards the deployed position. The downward portion of the suspension card slips over the tray table upper edge to engage the tray table surface. The tray table is then returned to the stored and secured position clamping the card between the inner surfaces of the tray table and seat back.
As will become further apparent, one of the novel aspects of this invention is that the suspension card assembly need not have sufficient rigidity to to fully support the invention and its contents in the suspended position. Rather, because the suspension card is held between the tray table and seat back, it need only have sufficient rigidity to keep from being pulled out past the right angle channel formed by the recessed seat back and the upper edge and surface of the tray table.
Thus other embodiments of the invention need satisfy only the structural means described above, and while the following suspension card assemblies satisfy said means, they are certainly not the only possible embodiments, but may include; one where portions of the suspension card are flexibly joined so that the card may be folded to a flattened position against the invention for storage, one in which the card is attached by arms so as to be retractable from a position of tray table engagement to a position of flat storage, and one in which the card is attached to the invention by a segment of flexible material which offers the additional advantage of accommodating tray tables of various thicknesses.
Attached to the suspension card assembly, the invention may be formed as a container to carry items such as food and beverages, or to hold drinks or other small items, such as reading lights.
A means is provided to permit repositioning of the invention in order to compensate for the change in incline if the passenger directly in front of the user reclines or raises his seat back. This means may take several forms, but in the case of the container embodiment it may be in the form of a U shaped extension bracket that straddles the bottom of the container on two sides and the back.
When the seat holding the invention is reclined, the invention may be repositioned to a more horizontal position by sliding the U shaped extension bracket towards the seat back. In the case of seat movement to the upright position, the U shaped extension would be withdrawn in the opposite direction.
A second embodiment of a repositioning means entails a first element of the invention attached to the suspension card assembly, and a second element which slip fits through the first portion at roughly a perpendicular angle, and which while having some resistance, can be urged manually by the user to change the angular position against the seat back, and therefore, compensate for seat back adjustment.
An additional feature of this two part embodiment is that it allows one element to be stored within the other for transport, thus minimizing both bulk and awkwardness for a passenger who usually has other carry on items as well.